ELLIS: Spartans hit sour notes, again, at home

Michigan State's Larry Caper sits on the bench in the final minutes of a 23-20 loss to Northwestern in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

EAST LANSING — If the 2012 college football season was a concert tour, then Saturday’s 23-20 loss to Northwestern was the perfect farewell show for Michigan State at Spartan Stadium.

The Spartans featured all the classics from this season. You had dropped passes. You had fumbles in the red zone. You had a fourth and goal stopped for a loss of 3 yards. You had missed field goals. And that was just in the first half.

Then, for an encore, the Spartans had costly penalties that extended Northwestern drives, the offensive give up a touchdown and even more drops for good measure in the second half.

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What it all amounted to was another game that Michigan State could have won, and should have won, but ultimately lost.

It was a perfect representation for what Michigan State’s season has been.

With the loss, the Spartans went 0-5 in Big Ten play at home and are now 5-6 overall, needing a win at Minnesota just to become bowl eligible. MSU came into this season expecting to be a contender for the conference title.

What is maddening for the Spartan fans, and likely the coaches, is there is no one thing to point to as to why Michigan State has failed to win the close games. It seems there are a collection of reasons with each loss.

“There is no question, on the football field, you have to make plays,” MSU coach Mark Dantonio said after the loss. “You’ve got to make the play. You’ve got to make the catch. You’ve got to make the block. You’ve got to make the throw. You’ve got to make the tackle. You’ve got to make the adjustments. ... There’s too many plays that are end-game plays that you have to be able to make if you are going to win the football game.”

Saturday’s loss was for a number of reasons, most of which came from the offense.

The defense allowed just one touchdown and 303 yards to Northwestern. The MSU offense gave up a touchdown on a missed block from Le’Veon Bell that set up an interception for a score.

The Spartans turned the ball over on the Northwestern 2-yard line on a bad snap exchange and they were also stopped on a fourth and goal from the 1-yard line when Bell was hit in the backfield for a 3-yard loss.

The defense isn’t completely blameless. A facemask penalty while trying to sack Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter on third and long gave the Wildcats a first down instead of forcing them to punt. Northwestern took that gift and turned it into a touchdown.

The game-winning field goal was setup by a breakdown in coverage that allowed a 41-yard pass from Trevor Siemian to Dan Vitale.

“You have to execute and you have to get it done in those situations,” Dantonio said. “That’s whether you are a coach or that’s whether you are a player, and there’s plenty of coaching errors to go around as well.”

There is no sugarcoating that this season has been a complete disappointment for Michigan State.

The only positive the Spartans can still get out of the year is a bowl bid, but in the spectrum of goals MSU had this season, that had to be one of the first it expected to meet.

There was a time not too long ago, that making a bowl bid was a big accomplishment, but Mark Dantonio changed that mindset.

With that change in mindset becomes bigger expectations for him and the program.

Football is a very “what have you done for me lately” sport and Dantonio knows that.

“I can’t live in the past. You can only live in the present or you can only live in the future,” Dantonio said.

The present dictates that this isn’t acceptable for Dantonio’s vision of MSU’s future.

The same mistakes over and over again can’t be tolerated if a team hopes to contend for championships year after year.

Dantonio needs to make sure that this year is an anomaly for the Spartans and next year’s season will be a sweet symphony of football.